Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I don’t think it had hit me that I was on the other side of the world, that I had actually got on a plane full of people, departed from gate two, sat in seat number seventy-two, and had made it there in one piece (mentally, not just physically).
The problem was I had no idea how I would cope with the rest or what the rest would be. I suppose the first step was to get on the bus to Te Puke and the rest would become clear pretty soon. I wasn’t sure whether to text Jack again to tell him I wasn’t joking about being in New Zealand or whether it was better to wait until I got there to surprise him.
I guess a part of me thought that if I did that, if I’d warned him, he might have told me that he didn’t really want me there and then what? Go home? So I decided not to tell him until I’d got to Te Puke, because he would be less likely to turn me away if I was actually standing in front of him.
I’d washed and dried the clothes I’d travelled in at two in the morning. That was when the jetlag set in and I was wide awake like it was two o’clock in the bloody afternoon. I stayed up reading for the rest of the night and hoped that I would sleep on the bus to Te Puke. My bus was at eleven and by the time I’d got downstairs (I went up and down the stairs three times), checked out (which involved leaving my card on the reception desk with no sign of orange hair in sight), I only had five minutes to wait for the bus. And five minutes was a long time when you’re trying not to think about the thing you’re waiting for.
I hadn’t said anything to Una about her night with Shaun did everything and she’d been unusually quiet about it, which meant there was more to her feelings than she was letting on. I didn’t buy the whole Carmel thing. I knew it was more than that. I pulled out my phone and texted her.
I’m at the bus stop to Te Puke.
OMG! How do you feel?
Una texted back straight away.
Weird.
That’s because you are weird … only joking. Have you told Turbo you’re coming yet?
No.
When are you going to?
I don’t know.
I think you should just turn up like he did!
What if he’s not there? He might have plans.
What plans?
Work?
You can spend your time sunbathing while he’s working. It’ll be fine, Pearl, this is the best thing you’ve ever done!
It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
Text me when you get there!
If you don’t hear from me, the bus crashed on the way.
Can I have Anickuna Cottage if you die?
No.
Why not?
Because you won’t look after the woodlice.
I will, I promise.
You said you’d squash them.
I won’t. They can sleep in your old room, and I’ll tuck them in every night.
Fuck off.
Have a safe trip! X
* * *
When the bus pulled up, I could see it was full before it had even reached me. I watched as more people squeezed on, and at the same time my airways felt like they were being restricted, much like the inside of the bus. I heard the sound of a cough on repeat and the unmistakeable splatter of a sneeze. Sometimes, if I don’t actually see a sneeze happen, I will re-enact what I heard in my head in the hope I might have got it wrong, that it might have been an exaggerated cough that sounded like a sneeze (because a cough was better than a sneeze).
But it was a sneeze in all its glory because I saw the woman rubbing her nose with a tissue afterwards. Even if she had covered her mouth, it would still have been in the air, tiny sneeze particles floating about ready to latch onto me. There would be no getting away from it.
I was contemplating waiting for the next bus, when Eve pulled up beside me in her van. It wasn’t a camper van like I had imagined. It was a white transit-type van with windows on the sides and maroon-star hubcaps. Eve unwound her window.
‘Want a lift?’ She was chewing gum. I hate gum.
‘I’m heading to Te Puke, it’ll take you ages,’ I said, but I knew I’d rather travel with one stranger than fifty.
‘I’m heading that way too, I’ve got work out there.’
I’d looked up Eve’s name as soon as I’d got back to the hostel the night before. It meant living, which suited Eve because she came across as someone who grabbed life with both hands.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked, but it was me who wasn’t sure. I hadn’t even seen inside her van, it could have been a dump, and she had a cat, how the hell was I going to travel with a cat in the back? Where did it go to the toilet?
I glanced back at the cramped bus, thought of the woman’s sneeze, the cough, the tissue, the particles that would surely be all over me.
‘Hop in.’ Eve grinned.
And so I did.
Eve’s van wasn’t a dump. There weren’t clothes strewn around or piles of dirty washing flung onto the floor. Everything was in its place, neatly put away, just as it would have been if it were mine. There was a small square table in the middle with bench seats either side and two cupboards above with two more underneath.
‘It folds out into a bed,’ Eve said proudly. ‘My ex made it. Pretty cool, aye?’
It was pretty cool. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I’d seen pictures of camper vans online but never for real.
‘What about the toilet?’ I asked.
‘What about one?’ Eve said.
‘Where do you go if you need to?’
‘Where did we go before we had toilets?’ she quipped back.
‘How do you wash?’
‘In the river or the sea, usually, but if I’m washing my clothes at a campsite I’ll treat myself to a shower. But it’s better for you to have a cold one. It’s good for the soul. Have you ever tried one?’
‘A cold shower?’
She nodded.
‘No.’
‘You should try them. They’re great,’ she said as she pulled away and I squeezed a splodge of sanitiser into my hands out of sight. I left just enough to ensure I could run my fingers along the seatbelt as I clipped it in.
‘Where’s your cat?’ I asked.
‘She’s in there,’ Eve said with a nod of her head.
I turned and looked but saw nothing.
‘Are you sure? I can’t see her. She might have escaped when I got in?’
‘No chance of that,’ Eve chuckled.
‘How do you make sure she doesn’t run away?’
‘I keep her in the cupboard.’
‘You keep your cat in the cupboard?’
‘I don’t like seeing her getting thrown about when I’m driving, she hit the window once.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better to put her in a cat box?’ I asked, stunned.
‘She doesn’t need one.’
‘But it would keep her safe.’
‘She is safe,’ Eve said. ‘She’s in the cupboard.’
I didn’t probe her anymore. Instead, I picked up my phone and texted Una just as Eve pulled into the traffic and drove out of Auckland.
Help…
A short while later my phone vibrated and I was relieved to see Una’s name on the screen, even if she couldn’t actually save me from the other side of the world.
How’s it going?
I’m not on the bus.
Did you miss it?
No, I’m in a van.
What van?
I’m getting a lift from a girl I met. Eve.
That’s great!
It’s not great. I think she might be a weirdo.
You’ll have a lot in common then.
I’m serious, Una. She keeps her cat in the cupboard.
???
She has a cat in the van, and she locks it in the cupboard.
Fuck, really?
Yes.
Is she joking, do you think?
No.
OK, can you get out and get a bus somewhere else?
I don’t even know where I am – she’s taking the scenic route.
Oh…
I know.
Don’t panic.
I’m in a van with a stranger who locks her cat in a cupboard.
Maybe the cat likes to travel in the cupboard?
What cat likes to travel in a cupboard?
A New Zealand cat? Have you seen it?
No.
Heard it?
No.
Does she seem normal apart from that?
I don’t know, I guess so. She reminds me of you a bit. Her cat is called Ginger.
I’m not ginger, I’m strawberry blonde, and I don’t keep cats in cupboards.
She has dreadlocks.
That’s cool.
It means she doesn’t wash her hair.
It’s probably very clean.
She doesn’t have a toilet in the van.
Ha ha.
Or a shower.
LOL.
Why did I get in?
Because you’re doing something amazing – go girl!
I hate that saying.
LOL.
Shut up.
FML.
Stop.
Just keep your phone on and text me in an hour.
I could be dead in an hour, Una.
You won’t be dead.
You’d never find my body.
I would, you’d be in the cupboard.
You’d feel bad if I was.
At least you’d have the cat to keep you company. Would you still want to be buried in Drangan? You’d be cut into little bits if she puts you in the cupboard.
Fuck off.
I’ll make sure they change the headstone to Born and Dead in Drangan, Found in a Cupboard.
You’re not even funny.
LOL. Text me in an hour. If you don’t, I’ll know why…